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Wednesday Cross. Gym etiquette. And the guy that didn’t follow it

I need to stop eating everything and anything around me. Last night I went for a 3 mile run and at the end, I told myself if I finished the last half mile strong I could order pad thai for dinner. And I know what you’re saying “Liz, what about weight loss? What about eating well to fuel running? 3 miles does not equal pad thai” and to that all I say is “Lalalalalala I can’t hear you over how good my dinner was”. But that was yesterday. This morning I stepped on the scale and it’s a much different story. Not to mention I feel sluggish and blah. Starting today I’m going to try to reign in my will power again and start saying no to cookies at the office, and lots of beer after work with co-workers, and ordering out because I can’t muster up the energy to turn on the flippin’ grill. Because really?! I can’t just go out on the porch and turn a little knob and cook dinner? For Pete’s sake, Liz, get on that.

Tonight, I’m giving my running legs the night off and cross training and hitting up the grocery store for food to grill. Because the heat has hit MA. And the 90+ feels AMAZING. But I refuse, REFUSE to turn on my stove or oven.

Later: I wrote this post. And then I got a text to have dinner with a friend. But I still crammed in a quick and dirty weight lifting-core working session. I do this in the little fitness center my office park has. For about 18 months if I were to go in there on a Wednesday night I’d be the only one or one of two, maybe three. I think a new company must have moved in or there was a merger of some kind because suddenly there are people in there all the time. And tonight it was 5 dudes and me. Well, for a bit there was another woman but she just eliptical-ed and then high tailed it out of there. I wanted to do 3 circuits of 8 exercises. I started the first and that’s when the crowd showed up. Now. I feel, and let me know if you disagree, but I feel that if you are all lifting weights in a tiny space you do it in a way to hopefully not be a total asshat and get in someone else’s way. And generally I’ve found this to be true. But tonight there was a guy who was totally clueless. He wasn’t following the unspoken rules. Lame. Most people either set up a weight bench or machine, do their thang for a few reps and then get up to shake it off and come back for a second or third set or they’re like me and set up a little circuit. Like I said, tiny gym and limited equipment, so I do the same moves in the same order, but I put weights, balls, benches back in between to let someone else use them while I’m doing the rest of the circuit. This one guy was bouncing all around, not really committed to any one thing. And any weight lifting he was doing was either a) useless or b) likely to hurt himself. I’m no expert, but I’m positive that swinging a 5 lb weight around like a free spirit and all la-di-da about it is going to do nothing for you. And you’re in my way. Move it along. Also, I forgot headphones so I couldn’t drown out the OBNOXIOUS grunting from another dude. The third and fourth dudes were good. They’d go to their spots, do their thang, and we found a mutual rhythm of sorts. Except for that dumb guy, wandering around in his tennis ball green t-shirt and black knee socks with white sneakers. He even did his weight work right in front of the weight rack, keeping the rest of us from access to the weights. Duuuuuuude. Not cool. I know I’m not a pro, but I’ve been using free weights and that fitness center for almost two years. I just want to do my little circuit and leave. I actually left after two circuits because of that one guy and then I started yelling at myself in my head. “No, damn it. I’ve been coming here so long the custodian recognizes me and let me sneak into the locker room to change just before he started cleaning it. I’m not letting some Johnny come lately loser ruin my workout. Plus my muscles weren’t fatigued yet and I want to live by the quote ‘That last one that always feels impossible? That’s the one that counts. So suck it up and push it out’ so march your butt back in there, block out that weird guy and get this done.” And I did. And I was so much happier about it. So much.

Then I got out to the car and found my headphones in the bottom of my bag. I just didn’t look hard enough. Foo. Oh well. I still crammed in an awesome circuit!! Also, I sneaked (side note. Snuck is not a word. WTF. Google it and then come back. Or maybe just finish these last three sentences and then google). I sneaked in a picture of myself. I like this shirt, but I want to look better in it and feel better in it. This is my starting point today. I wonder where I’ll be on the day of my half. Hopefully smaller, fitter, and faster! NOTE: The “cool” arrow is point to the dude behind me who followed the rules. Not myself. Ok, a little myself. No! Just kidding. Mostly